A government taskforce has been criss-crossing the globe in recent months, looking at nuclear power plants, research laboratories and uranium enrichment facilities.
It was appointed by Prime Minister John Howard to examine nuclear power and uranium mining.
Curiously, it did not set foot on Chinese soil - despite the fact that, if Australia decides to lift current restrictions on uranium mining, China will be a major beneficiary.
It has long been one of life's ironies that Australia, endowed with almost 40 per cent of the world's known uranium deposits, has no nuclear-power industry, and the production of uranium is restricted by law to three mines.
But Mr Howard is a fervent believer in nuclear energy as part of the suite of solutions to global warming, so Australia seems highly likely to liberalise its uranium mining rules. That is what the taskforce recommended in the draft report it released this week.
Beijing will no doubt be encouraged by such signals coming from Australia. Along with India, China is in the world spotlight in any discussion about global warming.
Beijing knows that it must drastically reduce greenhouse-gas emissions over the next decade, and nuclear power is a major element in meeting this aim.
